When Zheng Sen ascended to the upper deck, the sea breeze was much stronger than during the day, but when he looked up, he could still see the Big Dipper, the North Star, and the brilliant Milky Way. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Major General, look south." Liu De said, "The officer on duty found that the starry sky in the south was blocked. ”

Zheng Sen hurriedly looked south, and sure enough, the stars of the Southern Dipper were gone, and the sky in the south was pitch black. Clearly, something was obscuring the southern sky. And the only thing that can cover such a large piece of sky with one guy is a large area of dark clouds.

"I could still see the Southern Dipper just now." "Just a quarter of an hour ago. ”

In just a quarter of an hour, these dark clouds had obscured the Southern Dipper Stars, and now, when Zheng Sen raised his head, he could clearly see that the Cowherd Star had also disappeared. The bright stars disappeared right in front of Zheng Sen's eyes. This shows that this dark cloud is approaching at an alarming speed. And the fact that this dark cloud is approaching so quickly also shows that this dark cloud only represents a huge storm.

The wind gradually increased, and although Zheng Sen could not see the waves on the sea because of the light, the increased shaking of the boat also indicated that the waves were increasing.

Zheng Sen stared at the starry sky to the south, estimating the speed of the dark clouds. He quickly came to the conclusion that his fleet could no longer escape the storm. And in the vicinity, there is no suitable harbor suitable for shelter.

"Ring the bell, fire fireworks, and order all ships to prepare for the storm at once. Release the Spaniards who were imprisoned, and tell them that if their ship could not withstand the storm tonight, no one would be able to save them. Zheng Sen ordered.

"Major General, the situation is very critical today. Even if such a measure were taken, I don't think it would be possible to keep all the warships, especially the Spanish ones. Because they don't have enough men above them to keep the ship in such a storm. Perhaps, Rear Admiral, we should abandon the smaller, less storm-resistant warships we have captured, and concentrate their men on those two battleships, while the storm has not yet fully caught up with us. With this concentration of manpower, we may have a chance to keep those two battleships. Old Jack also rushed over.

"But in case they start a rebellion and try to escape...... We can get rid of all the gunpowder on those two ships and divert all the fresh water from them. Ah, there is rain in the storm, and there is fresh water, and perhaps we should take away the sails from these two battleships, which are not needed in the storm anyway. If they try to escape, they will be killing themselves. Well, that's how it goes. Convey orders to other warships. ”

All the battleships came to a halt and the sails were retracted to reduce the effect of the gradually increasing winds. Fireworks are lit on the bow of each boat to mark the location. Some Spanish prisoners were urgently transferred to the two Spanish battleships in lifeboats, and in the presence of the Spaniards, the Chinese loaded all the gunpowder, sails, fresh water and most of the food from the battleships onto lifeboats and transported them away.

"Listen, a great storm is about to catch up with us." An officer of the Model Army said to the Spanish captives, "Some of them were trained in foreign languages when they were in school," said an officer of the Model Army, "and you know what happens in the present situation in the event of a storm." If we continue to leave you on your badly damaged cruisers, I can assure you that you won't survive tonight. So we're moving you to these two bigger ships. It is true that the two boats were also badly damaged, but they were larger and more resistant to wind and waves. And now there are so many of them, and all kinds of repair parts are being concentrated here from those abandoned cruisers. If you can stick together, you might have a chance to survive this storm. Well, good luck guys. ”

After saying these words, the soldiers of the Model Army began to retreat from these two battleships and returned to their battleships, after all, the Zheng family's warships also needed as many maintenance personnel as possible at this time.

The storm came quickly, and as soon as the transfer of personnel was over, the storm caught up with the fleet, so the continuation of the operation to deliver supplies for repairs to the two battleships had to be suspended. At this time, there was not a single star in the whole sky, and it was pitch black all around, except for the sound of howling wind and pouring rain.

Zheng Sen also lost control of the entire fleet, the downpour caused the visibility to drop sharply, and the faint light of the wind lanterns hanging on the masts of the battleships was no longer enough to penetrate the rain curtain, and even the temporarily lit fireworks could illuminate a very limited range.

The wind is getting stronger and the waves are getting higher and higher, and the Endeavour, which has become a giant ship in this era, has become as small as a leaf in the sea like a boiling soup pot, and the waves can easily lift it high or sink it to the bottom of the sea.

Zheng Sen put on a life jacket (which was also copied from a later invention) and tied himself to the boat with a rope so that he could avoid being thrown directly from the boat in the bumps. At this time, if he falls into the water and the surroundings are pitch black, then the gods can't save him. Of course, in order to ensure that if the ship was about to sink, he could quickly leave the ship, Zheng Sen also had a sharp dagger in his hand, which could quickly cut the rope.

It was pitch black all around, and the "Endeavour" was like a roller coaster, rushing straight up for a while, and falling straight down again, as if it would fall all the way to the eighteen layers of hell.

Sometimes, the lightning in the sky would also illuminate the entire sea from time to time, and at this time, Zheng Sen would take the opportunity to look around to see how the other ships were doing. However, the lightning illuminated the sea for a short time, and the torrential rain also interfered with Zheng Sen's observation, so he only vaguely saw the mast of another ship once, but in the blink of an eye, the lightning disappeared, and the whole sea sank into darkness again.

Another time, when the lightning lit up, Zheng Sen found that he and the "Endeavour" were in the trough, and the huge waves were directly above his head.

The Endeavour did not suffer any structural damage in previous battles. There were only a few small holes in the hull, but under the lapping of such waves, there was still a leak. The soldiers were busy plugging leaks everywhere and desperately pumping water out with foot-operated pumps.

The wind and waves continued until the next day, when they abated slightly. After dawn, Zheng Sen looked around, but found that in this sea area, except for a captured Spanish battleship, the other warships were gone. This is actually a normal phenomenon, because in storms, it is not uncommon for ships to get separated. As long as these ships haven't sunk and can sail, they will naturally be able to go back to North Harbor. But Zheng Sen was still very worried about the condition of the entire fleet. As for the captured Spanish battleship, although it had survived the storm of the previous night, it looked even more miserable than it had been at the end of the previous day's battle, and Zheng Sen was not sure if it would survive the day.